What are the design guidelines for Heat Transfer Vinyl products?
To ensure the best results, Heat Transfer Vinyl decoration methods such as Puff Print, Metallic Print, and Glitter Print require specific design preparation. This guide covers file requirements, artwork specifications, and minimum size guidelines for these decoration methods. Make sure to meet these requirements before uploading your design.
Minimum line thickness and text requirements
The minimum line thickness and text height required for a successful outcome vary significantly depending on the decoration method used. Please review the specific requirements for your chosen method before uploading your design files.
For any design involving small text, choosing a bold, sans-serif font (with thick, simple lines) is highly recommended over thin or highly decorative fonts.
Puff print
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Minimum line thickness: 0.125"–0.2" (3–5 mm). Ensures a substantial volume of ink is used to achieve a consistent, high, three-dimensional rise.
Note: Lines closer to 0.2" will achieve a more noticeable 3D "puff" effect. - Minimum gap/spacing: 0.125" (3 mm). Prevents the expanding (puffing) ink from merging with adjacent elements. Puff print expands by roughly 20%.
- Minimum text height: 88pt /1.22" (31mm). Guarantees legibility and shape consistency after the expansion of the ink during curing.
- Maximum solid area: 3.94" x 3.94" (10 cm x 10 cm). Large solid areas can lead to inconsistent puffing, cracking, or poor wash durability.
- Maximum text height: 826pt / 11.5" (292mm).
Metallic & Glitter print
- Minimum line thickness: 0.07" (1.8 mm). Prevents the material from tearing during the cutting process.
- Minimum gap/spacing: 0.06" (1.5 mm). Ensures successful weeding and prevents neighboring cut elements from merging.
- Minimum text height: 0.25" (6.5 mm). Maintains the integrity of internal character shapes (e.g., centers of "o" or "a") during the weeding process.
- Maximum text height: 826pt / 11.5" (292mm).